Hot Cocoa
by ST3PH3Nii3
Summary: There was one thing to help warm up a person when they'd collided with a snowbank and were frozen... A cup of steamy hot chocolate! However, was there something else that worked better than hot chocolate? Echizen Ryoma OneShot.


"Ryoma-Kun," [Name] cooed at the sleeping teen knocked out in his bed, curled up in his blankets and snoozing the day away. "Your parent's sent me in to wake you up; we can't have you sleeping your birthday away~"

The dark haired teen groaned, his hair glinting to a deep green hue as [Name] began turning the lights in his room on. Sharp golden eyes slowly blinked open, blearily looking about. His eyes finally landed on the short [color] haired girl smiling down at him; he faintly noted that Karupin was in her arms and not in bed snuggled up with him like usual.

"Come on, Ryoma-Kun." The girl chided, letting the Himalayan cat jump from her arms and greet its owner. "Nanjiro-Jii told me to get you up so you could actually enjoy your birthday."

"S'let me sleep…" The teen mumbled as he pulled the thick blankets over his head, hiding from the lights of the room. "Go'way, [Name]…"

Biting back a laugh, the girl pounced on the bed and tugged on the thick blankets. "You should know me well enough by now; I'm not going to leave you here to rot away on your birthday! C'mon, so we can celebrate! We can do whatever you want to do."

Ryoma slowly poked his head through the blankets, a golden eye staring up at the big [color] eyes above him. "Sleep."

"No..!" [Name] laughed, reaching down to pull the blankets back to expose the rest of his face. "We can do anything, except for sleeping."

"…Fine."

"Good, now get dressed! Then meet me downstairs; your Mom made breakfast for you while you were asleep. I'll heat it up, since it was quite a while ago. You just take too long to wake up, Ryoma-Kun."

[Name] ran a hand through Karupin's fur one last time before turning to leave from the boy's room; however, she was sure to shoot him a glare that had him reconsidering just falling asleep once she left.

After all, [Name] had quite a fun day planned for the tennis prodigy. That is, if she could get him to actually follow along with the plan. But, that's where she had to be tricky. After all, she had help from the other Seigaku tennis regulars.

...

"So what," Ryoma asked, only to pause with a yawn, "Are you going to force me to do today?"

"Well, it's your birthday~" [Name] grinned as she, once again, filled up the tall glass that he was drinking out of with more milk. Inui-Senpai still had him drinking quite a bit of it every day. It was true that the dark haired teen had shot up in the last few years, but Inui had Ryoma believe that he'd continue to get taller if he continued his milk regimen. "I said that I was going to let you decide; if it's not sleeping all day long, that is."

Ryoma grumbled a bit, chopsticks hanging from his mouth as he ran a hand through his untamed hair. "Well, it's not like you're any good at tennis."

"That's true," [Name] chuckled at Ryoma's honest brutality. "But we could do something other than tennis."

"Something besides tennis? Like what?"

[Color] eyes rolled in exasperation, "I've been telling you for years that there's more than just tennis outside. You haven't been paying me any bit of attention, have you?"

"I noticed when you got your hair cut," The male countered, golden eyes zeroing in on her [color] locks. "'Sides, I'm not any good at volleyball like you are."

Trying her hardest to stifle her laughs, the [color] haired girl merely nodded her head. "Yeah, I think I remember Momo-Chan-Senpai telling me about that; you did terrible, didn't you? Face planting into the sand and everything…"

"Shut it."

"Hehe, anyways..!" [Name] grinned as she decided to be nice and drop the subject, only because it was his birthday after all; and Christmas Eve, too. "I was wondering… How about you give snowboarding a chance? Or skiing? There's a great place not too far away; we'd just have to take about an hour's train ride there."

"Snowboarding?" The Echizen boredly asked, dulling blinking at [Name] as he popped more rice into his mouth. "Skiing?"

"Yeah," The [color] haired girl grinned, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her line of vision. "Since there's snow and everything, and it's fresh, I figured that it'd be a nice place to go. Not that many people would be around, considering they usually spend time with their families on Christmas Eve. I think it'd be a good place to celebrate a birthday; I know I'd like that, if my birthday was in winter."

Ryoma still had a blank stare on his face.

"Okay, how about this?" [Name] asked as she sighed and shook her head, trying to think of a compromise. "We go and celebrate your birthday and Christmas Eve with the snow, and you can sleep on the train ride up and back."

"Deal."

Hehe, it was too easy to get Ryoma to agree when the topic of sleep was in question~

...

[Name] grumbled, brushing the snow from her hair and coat as she stomped into the small, cozy lodge that the facility provided to all of their customers. The girl was frozen to the bone, covered in thick flakes of snow. From the looks of her, one would assume that it was currently snowing outside; in reality, it had stopped hours ago.

No, this snow was from the 'accident' she had.

"Stupid Momo-Chan-Senpai..!" [Name] seethed as she continued to brush her gloved hands over her clothes, scraping snow and ice from her frame. Her [color] hair was dark and damp due to the snow. "Distracting me like that when I was coming off of that hill..!"

The [color] haired female continued to scowl, throwing her large goggles down beside her as she plopped down on a rather comfortable looking couch next to one of the fireplaces. Beads of water reflected off of the plastic lens, shining in the dim light of the fireplace. [Name] brought her hands up to her face, rubbing her tired eyes.

Really, it was much more of a handful than she had originally thought. Of course, she knew it would be tiring with all of the Seigaku regulars at the same winter recreational facility to celebrate Ryoma's birthday. And Momo-Chan-Senpai, being the competitive person that he was, had thought that the friendly snowboarding match between herself and Kikumaru-Senpai had been an actual competition. That's why he screamed as loud as he could, cheering for [Name] and startling her bad enough to crash into a snow bank. Luckily the [color] haired female wasn't injured, physically at least; her pride took the utmost damage.

"Ah… [Name]-Chan…"

"What is it, Momo-Chan-Senpai?" [Name] questioned, her eyes still closed as she tried to keep her dignity about her. She was still upset at the spiky haired upperclassman, but she didn't want to snap at him and ruin Ryoma's birthday… or Christmas Eve, if one preferred.

Deep violet eyes shown with sincerity as the taller male tentatively sat down next to the [color] haired girl. As a peace offering, he held a steaming mug of what looked like hot chocolate out to her. "I… I didn't mean to startle you earlier. I just thought you could have used some cheers to beat Eiji-Senpai."

"And what's this?" The female questioned as she grabbed the steaming mug, [color] eyes looking down at the chocolate colored liquid. There was also a dollop of what looked like whipped cream in the center, slightly melting due to the heat of the drink. Lighter brown swirls covered the surface, most likely due to the melted cream. A peppermint stick sat in the drink, resting against the edge. "Is it for me?"

"Of course!" Momo exclaimed, softly placing the warm mug into the girl's hands. "You were covered in snow and ice, and it looked really cold. Oishi-Fukubuchou thought that this would warm you up a bit; it's hot chocolate."

"That's very thoughtful of you and Oishi-Senpai," [Name] grinned. Shifting the mug into one hand, the girl brought one hand up and used her teeth to pull her glove off. Repeating the process with her other hand, she sighed in contentment as the drink warmed her icy fingers. "Thank you very much. Also, tell Oishi-Senpai thank you from me, too, okay?"

Momo grinned, bringing his large hand up to ruffle the girl's [color] locks, which were finally starting to dry a bit. "No problem. Well, I'll be going back outside with the others… Unless you want me to stay?"

"That's fine," [Name] softly smiled. "Go and hang out with the others. I'm just going to drink this and warm up a bit, okay? I might be out later."

"Got it!" The violet eyed upperclassman winked, "Take care."

Waving Momo-Chan-Senpai off, [Name] released a sigh. Shifting around on the couch, she just couldn't get comfortable. Bringing her legs up, the girl sat on them and finally felt a bit more comfortable. As she leaned on the armrest of the couch, she grinned and took to stirring the drink with the peppermint stick.

"Mm," The [color] hair girl hummed as she breathed in the scent of the drink; chocolate and peppermint filled her senses.

Bringing her lips to the side of the mug, [Name] blew a bit of air to cool the hot liquid down a few degrees, taking a moderately sized sip. The flavor was rich and smooth; obviously it had been made from only the best chocolate available. The whipped cream added to the sweetness, which was a good thing because [Name] had a bit of a sweet tooth. The warmth that the drink provided spread throughout her chest. Oishi-Senpai did know best after all, all of his worrying finally paying off.

As someone plopped down on the couch beside [Name], she let out a yelp and brought her mug of hot chocolate closer to herself to prevent it from spilling. Sharply turning her [color] eyes to glare at whomever disturbed her, [Name]'s eyes softened at the sight.

"Ryoma, back so soon?"

"Mm," The dark haired teen hummed in response, golden eyes hidden from view under his eyelids as his head leaned back to rest on the cushions of the couch. "Momo-Senpai came back outside and demanded some sort of contest."

"You didn't want to take part in it?" [Name] questioned, once again stirring her hot chocolate as she angled her head so she could stare at the prince. "From what I saw earlier, you were a pretty great snowboarder; but not as great as me."

"Che," Ryoma scoffed, opening his golden eyes to stare down at the girl next to him. "Who fell in the snow bank?"

[Name]'s eyes narrowed into a glare, lips drawing up into a pout. "No fair; you saw Momo-Chan-Senpai yell and startle me. It's all his fault!"

"Who do you think told Momo-Senpai about the competition?"

"…Fuji-Senpai..?"

"No."

Pouting, [Name] scrunched her face up as she thought. She was sure that it had been Fuji, since he does have a sadistic streak. Then again, it could have been Inui-Senpai, on the lookout for more data. Tezuka-Buchou would never do anything like that. Neither would Oishi-Fukubuchou; only, he'd worry too much about Eiji and my safety. Kaidoh didn't seem like the type either; he didn't like Momo enough to speak to him civilly. No doubt their heated exchanges before Momo's yell would have alerted her to their mischief. Taka-San, while no longer a part of the high school tennis regulars, was working at the sushi shop today and couldn't make it.

So… That only left one person.

"…You..!"

"Heh," Ryoma smirked, crossing his arms behind his head. "I had to get you back for waking me up."

"By making me freeze to death?" [Name] gaped, "How cruel, Ryoma!"

"You're warm now, right?" The prince asked, gesturing to the mug of hot chocolate that the girl was still holding on to. Steam continued to lightly drift from the surface of the beverage. "Hot cocoa always warms people up."

"Yeah, thanks to Oishi-Fukubuchou telling Momo-Chan-Senpai that it'd help; he brought it to me when he was apologizing." The girl explained, bringing the cup up to her lips, lightly blowing before taking another sip of the chocolate goodness. "You're right though, it does help get rid of the coldness~"

Golden eyes blinked, "…I'm cold."

"Then get some hot chocolate." [Name] shrugged, taking another sip.

"Share?" The prince suggested, a smirk toying along the edges of his smirk. At the appalled look on the girls face, he continued. "It is my birthday, after all."

"Yeah, and your gift from me was bringing you up here." [Name] rolled her eyes, fighting off a blush. Share her drink with Ryoma? He'd never suggested something so…intimate… before. "So happy birthday."

Ryoma tilted his head to the side, "What about my Christmas present then?"

Blinking, the [color] haired girl smiled. "It's not Christmas yet~ It's just Christmas Eve!"

Grumbling to himself, the prince rolled his golden eyes at [Name]'s childishness. Sure, they were in high school now, but she still acted like a kid at times. Despite his reluctance to admit it to himself, he admired that. He wasn't able to keep up the childish exterior he had when he was younger; he didn't even have that when he was a first year in middle school. And through everything, [Name] stayed by his side and tried pulling that side out, while putting up with his snarky moods.

The prince smirked, seeing [Name]'s attention wander off; the girl beside him was dully staring at the fire in the fireplace, mind somewhere else entirely.

With quick reflexes, to which Ryoma owed to all of the years he spent conditioning and playing tennis, he grabbed her mug of hot chocolate and brought it to his lips, taking a sip. [Name] gasped, eyes wide at the sudden movements.

"Ryoma~" The girl groaned as she looked down at the mug. Ryoma had taken quite a large gulp, downing most of what was left of the drink. "That was my hot chocolate..!"

"Mm," The prince grinned. "It was good."

Muttering under her breath, the [color] haired girl quickly downed the last of the beverage that was left in the mug before sitting it down on a small table that was beside the couch. "There; there's none left for you to steal now."

"Hm?" Ryoma hummed, cockily tilting his head to the side. Locks of his dark black, almost green, hair brushed across [Name]'s cheek. "I think you're wrong."

"Wha-"

The prince cut [Name] off with a bold move; a kiss.

The girls eyes had closed after the initial shock wore off, complying with his request. Ryoma's hand strayed to her cheek, cradling it in his hand as she began to respond to his slowly moving lips.

Chocolate, Ryoma faintly thought, she tastes like chocolate.

[Name] slowly wrapped her hands around Ryoma's neck, one hand straying up to run through his hair. When her fingers met a tangle and tugged, the male let out a quiet moan.

Both teens pulled away, cheeks tinted pink.

"Well," [Name] grinned, "That warmed me up much more than the hot chocolate did."

Golden catlike eyes gleamed mischievously. The girl raised a brow in silent question, waiting until the dark haired male spoke.

"How about we get another hot chocolate?"

"If you insist~" The female laughed a bit, moving her lips by his ear as she grinned. "Happy birthday and Merry Christmas Eve~"

"Mm," The prince hummed. "Best present yet."

...

Authoress' Note: Thank you so much for reading! This One Shot was written a few years ago while I was still on Quizilla, for Ryoma's birthday, which is 12.24. I do not own Prince of Tennis.


End file.
